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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27002536">just a man</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ealasaid/pseuds/Ealasaid'>Ealasaid</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>1917 (Movie 2019), Shawshank Redemption - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fusion, Drabble Sequence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Past Sexual Abuse, Richfield, Sleeping Together, Sleepy Sex, Vague</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 00:54:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,018</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27002536</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ealasaid/pseuds/Ealasaid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Shawshank Redemption AU -- three drabbles (and then some).  Lieutenant Richards is Red, William Schofield is Andy Dufresne.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lieutenant Richards/William Schofield</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeyourownstory/gifts">writeyourownstory</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Snippits from the life of Ben, inmate, and his observations of Schofield.  Years 1, 10, and 22.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ben notices them before Scho does.  But that's probably the familiarity.</p><p>They won't touch him -- not anymore.  He's off the list of acceptable victims, ever since he insulted Bogs and befriended half the inmates.  Too many people like him and the Sisters know it.  Still, though, Ben has to force himself to stay casually relaxed, the body language of a predator too big to be eaten.</p><p>They go for Schofield instead.</p><p>He doesn't know not to fight back.  He is surprised and then angry and then bewildered -- and Ben has had to witness this often <em>(complicit) (accessory)</em> -- but this time it hits differently when Schofield stops making noise and the only sounds are the jeers and the softly lewd smack of flesh hitting flesh.</p><p>Ben doesn't remember feeling shame like this.</p><p>--:0:--</p><p>Ben likes to pretend he's smoking, but honestly cigarettes are cash and he isn't going to go around burning that shit.  So he keeps one for the sake of appearances and keeps it unlit, most times.</p><p>Scho meanders through the yard, blinking at the sun like a lizard who hasn't woken up yet. He smiles when he sees there aren't any clouds and stares off into the trees, gaze distant and free.  It's not as bad as it used to be, not since Bogs was beaten so badly by the guards he went to the hospital and never came back.</p><p>Ben watches from the corner of his eye as Scho ambles slowly around.  He ignores most of the other inmates, nods at the ones who greet him, and finally, finally ends up next to Ben.</p><p>Ben leans in casually.  Will is taller and he don't mind so much when Ben nudges him as when others do.  "G'morning," Ben drawls, and tries not to look too hard into how he's the only one Will smiles at.</p><p>--:0:--</p><p>"What if I actually missed having one cell?" Will says.  His laughter is quiet here in the bed they share, set up in the 'living room' because neither can stand to be caged in the smaller bedrooms.  "What the hell am I supposed to do with a whole house, now?"</p><p>Ben chokes on that.  When he is able to breathe instead of wheeze, he says, "What if I missed a cell that locked others out?"</p><p>"'Cept the guards," Will says, voice dry.</p><p>"'Cept the guards," Ben agrees.  He pretends he doesn't shiver at that.</p><p>There's a touch on his wrist.  Ben jumps, then relaxes.  There aren't any guards here now -- just Will, tentatively threading his fingers with Ben's in apology.</p><p>Will lets him have a moment of quiet while Ben shoves all that away.  He's not at Shawshank anymore; he doesn't have to worry about anyone coming up on him he don't like.  Will'd get 'em if Ben didn't, first.</p><p>There is a long silence.  </p><p>"What if I wished I didn't hate?" Will says softly, so softly. His grip tightens; Ben feels Will's pulse in the bones of his own hand and hears Will swallow.  "What if I didn't hate everyone who -- touched me?"</p><p>Ben thinks of what to say to that.  He can't imagine a world where he hated everyone who made him do things he didn't want -- he'd be hating the whole damn world.</p><p>"I'm touching you now," Ben whispers back, just as quiet, to the one person who never forced him.</p><p>The touch this time isn't unwelcome, nor so unexpected.  Will's knuckles nudge under his chin, catching on the morning's burgeoning stubble; his thumb traces feather-light over Ben's lips.</p><p>"You don't count," Will says; quietly, fondly.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>wrote this in discord for an exceedingly lovely human :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A history of how sleeping together was better than apart (and how it led to something more).</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>See, the first time Will wakes Ben up by nuzzling him -- still asleep -- Ben blinks half awake, decides it's weird but <em>it's Will</em>, and goes back to sleep. </p><p>(After all, what harm does it do, having Will make those soft, sleepy sounds and curl in closer?  None.  None whatsoever.)</p><p>The second time isn't exactly the "second" time, because Ben's vaguely aware that there are many, many times he is awoken by a Will who cuddles in too close in the months between when he remembers the first time and now; but he is woken, and terrifically so, by this second time, when Will is -- he's stiff, and he's rocking up against Ben's hip.  It gives Ben a horrific start.  He starts right out of the bed and onto the floor with a thump.</p><p>The thing is, Will was clearly still asleep.  So, though Benjamin is gasping from some bizarre shock that bounces through his blood, Will is muzzily poking his head up and mumbling "What?" so endearingly that Ben's terror swiftly dissipates.  (Not entirely, but -- it's <em>Will.</em>  --And there ain't been a guard who snuck into Ben's cell in the last seven years, anyhow.)</p><p>Will accepts Ben's terse explanation of "nightmare" with unnecessary fussing -- he makes noises about separate beds -- but Ben reminds him how cold it gets in Mexico at night, and how much nicer it is to share.  Will, who has his own share of night horrors that can't be calmed, is persuaded that it really isn't any trouble.</p><p>Ben comes to expect these closer, nighttime embraces.  He comes not to mind them, either -- he comes to anticipate and appreciate, if he's awake for them, and how softly Will sighs after.</p><p>The third time Ben is truly woken by Will, it is to a Will who, in the middle of nuzzling at Ben, stops; freezes; and carefully, carefully tries to slip out of Ben's grip -- doubtlessly for a discreet disposal.</p><p>Ben finds he doesn't want this -- doesn't want Will to be worried about it, either.  So he clings all the tighter to Will, causing Will to freeze again, and -- in the dark -- Ben shushes him, feigning only being partially awake.  He shushes Will and waits to see what happens.</p><p>Will is stone for a long, long moment.  . . . And then, softly, he begins to rock again, rubbing himself -- the full length of himself, hot and hard -- against Ben's hip. </p><p>When he comes, gasping soundlessly, it is with his mouth and nose pressed tight to Ben's temples and in Ben's arms.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>literally it takes them close to 23 years to get to this point</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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